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Armenia Parliament Dissolved, Early Election Set For December

RFE/RL's Armenian Service November 01, 2018

YEREVAN -- Armenia's president dissolved parliament and called an early election, after lawmakers failed for a second time, in accordance with a prior political agreement, to elect a new prime minister.

President Armen Sarkisian signed a decree late on November 1 setting the elections for December 9, according to the presidential press service.

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced last month he was resigning from the post of prime minister in order to dissolve parliament and force early elections. He will continue to perform his prime-ministerial duties until a new parliament and prime minister are elected.

Under the Armenian Constitution, snap elections can be called only if the prime minister resigns and the parliament fails to replace him or her with someone else within two weeks.

Pashinian has pushed for early parliamentary elections following his bloc's landslide victory in the mayoral race in the capital, Yerevan, last month in a bid to unseat his political opponents, who have maintained a majority in parliament.

A former opposition lawmaker, Pashinian took office in May after spearheading weeks of protests that forced his predecessor, Serzh Sarkisian of the Republican Party of Armenia (HKK), to resign.

The pro-Pashinian Yelk Alliance, which holds only nine seats in parliament, first nominated Pashinian as prime minister on October 23 and lawmakers rejected the nomination the next day.

Yelk and members of the second-largest parliamentary faction controlled by wealthy businessman Gagik Tsarukian nominated Pashinian for the second voting on November 1.

Out of the 70 lawmakers registered for the parliamentary session, "no one voted for Pashinian, no one voted against him, while 13 abstained from voting," Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan said following the vote.

As a result, Pashinian's bid did not gather enough votes, paving the way for the National Assembly's dissolution.

Pashinian's political team is tipped to win the upcoming polls by a landslide.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenian-parliament-forces -new-elections/29577063.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.